Budget Airline Blog

A new budget air carrier will target smaller U.S. cities that it says are not being served by bigger airlines.

JetAmerica said Tuesday it will offer 34 nonstop passenger flights a week starting July 13 at Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Melbourne, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; Minneapolis and Lansing, Mich.

Bmibaby is dropping three city routes and replacing them with resort destinations.

Cardiff flights to Amsterdam and Glasgow are being axed along with Birmingham to Cork.

They are being replaced with a service from South Wales to Almeria in Spain between May 22 and October 22 and a Birmingham to Newquay route between May 22 and September 20.

The Almeria flights will run twice a week from Cardiff and the Cornwall connection from Birmingham will operate four times a week.

Passengers booked from Cardiff to Amsterdam and to Gla

A certain Asian budget carrier, most famous for being red,  is considering charging passengers for access to their oxygen mask when the cabin loses pressure.

In an event of an emergency passengers must swipe their credit card before the oxygen mask is released and then charged $25 for what cold save their life.

The cheap frills airline would make no comment other than it always considers ways of increasing revenue in hard economic times.

1000′s of passengers have been left without flights after low-cost carrier Zoom collapsed. We can now announce that Zoom have suspended all services after encountering serious financial problems.

Zoom aircraft have been prevented from taking off at Glasgow and Cardiff Airports and passengers at other airports the airline operates to and from have also reported problems. If you have tickets to fly with Zoom then you will need to find an alternative route.

Zoom have posted an apology to its customers as well as some suggested alternative routes on its website www.flyzoom.com, we would suggest taking a look at these if you have been left stranded or have a flight booked in the near future with the airline.

Passengers will have to pay for extras, from meals at £10 a head to charges for each bag as major airlines try to cover the soaring cost of oil.

Even ringing a call center to book a plane ticket could incur a charge.

The stark warning comes from John McCulloch, managing partner of Oneworld Alliance, the group that represents world’s leading airlines.

It comes just days after British Airways announced the biggest fuel surcharge increase in its history.

He predicted mainstream carriers will have to fall into line with their no-frills rivals as they look to cut costs. The same has already happened in America.

“People have to realise it is going to get more expensive to travel,” said Mr McCulloch, whose group includes British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia and Qantas.

“Airlines would argue that it is the right way to do it. It will be £20 for a bag, £10 for a meal, you are going to see much more of that.

“I think charging for meals will become standard practice.”

British Airways’ boss Willie Walsh said his airline will survive the current surge in oil prices, but warned other operators will fail and predicted fare rises across the industry.

As oil prices continue to set records, reaching $135 a barrel yesterday, airlines are coming under increasing pressure from soaring costs.

Several airlines, including Oasis and US operator Eos Airlines, have filed for bankruptcy recently, as the oil surge has hit the smaller, budget companies hardest.

UK business carrier Silverjet may be the next victim, as its shares were suspended this morning as the company admitted a loan is urgently needed to continue trading.

OasisHongKong Airlines, a long-distance budget carrier that tried to offer premium service and spacious seats at low prices, suddenly went into liquidation Wednesday and canceled all flights, the fourth budget carrier to halt operations in the past week and a half.

The bankruptcy filing by Oasis stranded thousands of passengers in Hong Kong, London and Vancouver, British Columbia. Many of the would-be passengers stuck in Hong Kong are children trying to return to British boarding schools after going home for the spring break.

High jet fuel prices have taken a heavy toll on the airline industry and particularly on budget carriers trying to compete on price with low profit margins. The other three to shut down since March 31, all in the United States, are Aloha Airgroup, ATA Airlines and Skybus Airlines.

Singapore’s discount airline Tiger Airways has confirmed speculation it will be the next carrier to enter the transtasman market.

Speaking to the Australian Aviation Press Club in Sydney, chief executive Tony Davis said the Australia-New Zealand service was on the radar.

Earlier reports said Tiger was eyeing Palmerston North, among other New Zealand airports, where competition was low or non-existent.

Mr Davis said Tiger, which is part-owned by Singapore Airlines and Ryan Air, would take delivery of two A319 aircraft toward the end of the year as it prepared to launch more services to regional destinations in Australia.

Tiger would also add a fifth A320 jet to its Australian fleet next month, which together with the A319s would expand its seating capacity by 65 per cent.

Korea’s two largest airlines have joined the low-cost carrier business, with Korean Air having founded Air Korea and Asiana Airlines having bought a controlling stake in Pusan International Air, which has launched budget carrier Air Pusan.Jeju Air and Hansung Airlines, which have been operating domestic services for more than two years, both plan to launch international services in the second half of this year.

Even foreign budget airlines have turned their eyes to Korea’s domestic market. Tiger Airways, a budget affiliate of Singapore Airlines, is planning to advance into Korea by joining forces with the city of Incheon.